SARGSYAN INVITES TURKISH PRESIDENT TO WATCH FOOTBALL MATCH IN YEREVAN

Interfax News Agency
Russia
July 4 2008

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has formally invited Turkish
President Abdullah Gul to visit Yerevan in early autumn, Armenian
president’s spokesman Samvel Farmanian told Interfax on Saturday.

"The Armenian president has sent a formal invitation to his Turkish
counterpart to visit Yerevan on September 6 for a football match
between the Armenian and Turkish national teams as part of the
qualifying tournament for the 2010 FIFA World Cup," Farmanian said.

It was reported earlier that Sargsian told of his plans to invite the
Turkish president to Yerevan at a meeting with the Armenian diaspora
in Moscow.

There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey,
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993. As a precondition
for establishing their relations Turkey demands that Armenia stop
seeking international recognition for the Armenian genocide in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915 and withdraw its troops from the Nagorno
Karabakh region.